New England Boat Show ... report.
 

Went to the NEBS today. In Boston, at the Convension center. The facility
is first rate in every category.

The show has mostly power boats. Not much in the way of sail, there are
marina and dealers of different
items there.

The crowd was very small, and this is the Sunday crowd.

No one was buying anything. As I made my way around the show, some of the
vendors told me the
boat business is terrible. Not surprising with the mortgage mess and all.

I looked at a couple of diesels; the Beta, Yanmar, Phasor, etc. Wow, are
these new diesels sweet.

The price is so high that no one is buying any of them. If past years when
I would go to a boat show,
the names of buyers would be posted on a board, etc... it was apparent that
the price is more than what
the average person would or will spend.

Interesting day.. though.

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

"Sir Thomas of Cannondale" wrote in message
news:Cdxij.6968$s67.6287@trndny05...
Went to the NEBS today. In Boston, at the Convension center. The
facility is first rate in every category.

The show has mostly power boats. Not much in the way of sail, there are
marina and dealers of different
items there.

The crowd was very small, and this is the Sunday crowd.

No one was buying anything. As I made my way around the show, some of the
vendors told me the
boat business is terrible. Not surprising with the mortgage mess and all.

I looked at a couple of diesels; the Beta, Yanmar, Phasor, etc. Wow, are
these new diesels sweet.

The price is so high that no one is buying any of them. If past years
when I would go to a boat show,
the names of buyers would be posted on a board, etc... it was apparent
that the price is more than what
the average person would or will spend.

Interesting day.. though.



I went to the San Diego Boatshow a week or so ago and it was all power boats
except for half a dozen yachts.
Bleak old day, too, so walking along the outside exhibit wasn't a lot of
fun.
The chappie from the J-boat/Delphia stand was very pleasant to talk to,
though, and knew what he was talking about also.
Lots of Wakeboarding stuff and boats to bolt it to.

Hoges in WA
As in Western Australia, not Washington

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

Dave wrote:
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:33:54 GMT, "Sir Thomas of Cannondale"
said:


The show has mostly power boats. Not much in the way of sail, there are
marina and dealers of different
items there.


Yes. I stopped going to the NY show several years ago for that reason.
Philadelphia did have a decent sailboat show, though.


Dallas Boat Show

55th Annual Winter Show
February 1-10, 2008
at Market Hall

http://dallasboatshow.net/

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

On 2008-01-14 10:14:02 -0500, Dave said:

Yes. I stopped going to the NY show several years ago for that reason.
Philadelphia did have a decent sailboat show, though.

Anyone know when that is? I've slipped off the old Atlantic City (AC)
announcement list and expect that the current Philly incarnation is
happening real soon now. (The Philly show was almost exclusively power
while AC ran, so I ignored it until recently.)

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

The Philly show probably died a good death. None scheduled at Phila.
this year.

The last Philly show had mostly local and small manufacturers, etc.
not much participation by the major manufacturers and poorly attended
seminars. The 'usual' production boat manufacturers were there and
few of the 'good' boats.
The last Philly show was about 1/2 the size of the previous Philly
Show which was 1/2 the size of the last AC show. I went primed to buy
a lot of 'stuff' (wind gen, 12vdc refrig., watermaker, Chartplotter,
etc, etc.) and came back home disappointed and mostly empty-
handed .... but did manage to spend a big wad at the Garhauer booth.
Only spent 10% of my show 'budget'. Very dissappointed with the Philly
strictly sail show.

It appears that the only well represented sailboat show on the east
coast anymore is Annapolis.

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

On 2008-01-14 10:14:02 -0500, Dave said:

Yes. I stopped going to the NY show several years ago for that
reason. Philadelphia did have a decent sailboat show, though.


Anyone know when that is? I've slipped off the old Atlantic City (AC)
announcement list and expect that the current Philly incarnation is
happening real soon now. (The Philly show was almost exclusively power
while AC ran, so I ignored it until recently.)

--
Jere Lull

The Philly show is supposed to be every two years. This year it is at
Baltimore. Haven't been to that one, so can't report on how good it is.
As RichH said, the Philly show sucked so who knows about the Baltimore
one if its run by the same folks. I think I'll wait for Annapolis.
Red

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

On 2008-01-14 21:14:36 -0500, RichH said:

The last Philly show was about 1/2 the size of the previous Philly Show
which was 1/2 the size of the last AC show.

That's distressing, particularly since I attended the first AC show
which was well attended, and a few after that. The second or third
proved to be an incredible boost to my lady's confidence level -- which
I'd like to repeat as her only weakness is her lack of confidence.

I early learned *not* to attend an AC show on good-weather days as
there weren't going to be any parking spots after the Philly area
drivers got in, and we're west of Philly and I'm *not* a morning person
outside of the season so don't start out at dawn in January.

I'm not surprised the Philly location seems to have failed, though I'm
sad it's not happening this year. Getting into town during a weekend
isn't fun even for those of us who know all the alternate paths.

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

New England Boat Show ... report.
 

On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:00:32 -0500, Red said:
As RichH said, the Philly show sucked

And Dave replied:
Guess you haven't been to the NY show.


Actually I did go this year, and it was better than last time I went a
few years ago even though its all powerboats (and a friend who was
working at the show got us in for free, which is even better!). I admit,
I just had to see what it was that draws innocent people to the dark side...

The show was quite a bit larger than I had remembered, and there were
lots of vendors - something not seen at sailboat shows except at
Annapolis/Miami for some years now.
Had to look at a couple of large powerboats. One of them had the new
joystick-controlled power management system that controls the
transmissions (fwd/rev), throttles, bow thruster, and stern thruster all
together to steer the boat in any direction or attitude while docking.
This thing with spin the boat in a circle around its center or go
quatering sideways or any combinations of directions you push or twist
the stick. Total control in your fingertips.

At the show I picked up a Lowrance XOG for well under $200, and
NauticPath mapping chip for $54 - it has all the charts for the coast of
the US and is the same chip for all their chartplotters. Now granted, on
the XOG you aren't going to see a great deal of detail, but it works way
better and a whole lot easier than my Garmin 76Cx (although not as many
features, but has a larger, more detail-readable screen) and even has
touch screen. It might not interface with the radar, but it makes a good
little backup.
Besides, I don't have radar :)
Red